The King Showing Himself to All the World

to find. For every generator naturally generates its own kind, and whatever you have sown, that you shall also reap; for nothing is generated from a human being except a human being. original Latin: Nam omne generans naturaliter generat suum simile , quodque seminaveris, illud & metes ; non enim generatur ex homine nisi homo. This is a common alchemical argument for "like produces like"—if you want to make gold, you must start with the "seed" of gold. SOL The Latin word for the Sun, and the standard alchemical name for Gold. does not carry three letters in its name in vain, but thereby brings to light that it is the true subject Subjectum: the primary material or focus of an experiment. of our Hermetic Art; for it is certainly a subject shining above all else original Latin: subjectum Super Omnia Lucens. This is a wordplay or "acronymic" explanation where the letters S-O-L represent the first letters of the Latin phrase.. You may thus well measure and gauge the perfect body original Latin: corpus perfectum; referring to common gold, which alchemists considered the most "perfect" metal in nature. against the more-than-perfect original Latin: plusquamperfectum; referring to the Philosophers' Stone or Elixir, which is "more than gold" because it possesses the power to transform other substances into gold., weigh your labor original Latin: laborem rightly, and otherwise follow the rules of the wise masters who write: that a small error in the beginning may be the greatest at the end. original Latin: quod parvus error in principio maximus in fine sit. This phrase, often attributed to Aristotle or Thomas Aquinas, warns the alchemist that a slight mistake in the initial preparation will lead to total failure of the experiment. Regarding the Nature of the Sun original Latin: Natura Solis, however, the following is reported: The Sun is a perfect body, the Lord of Stones, the King and head of all others; in fire it is not corrupted nor diminished, but improved, in that moisture which is moistened without being altered. Its complexion is balanced, and its nature ordered in heat, cold, moisture, and dryness; nothing superfluous is found in it, nor is it diminished: for it is formed from the most subtle and clear substance of quicksilver original Latin: argenti vivi. To the alchemist, this was not just the liquid metal mercury, but a philosophical principle of fluidity and spirit. and a little Sulfur, pure and clean, of a red color, fixed and clear, tinting the very substance of the quicksilver itself. Sulfur and Mercury/Quicksilver were believed to be the two "parents" of all metals; the purity and balance of these two determined the metal's quality. From which it then becomes clear (especially because the Philosophers’ Stone original Latin: Lapis Philosophorum, through its similar tempera[ment]...